Woods Takes Home Another Postseason Honor Being Named to NCCSIA All-State First Team

April 5, 2011

PEMBROKE, N.C. – Ten student-athletes from eight different colleges and universities comprise the 2010-11 North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) College Division All-State Men’s Basketball Teams released on Monday. Pfeiffer University’s Chris Woods (Thomasville, NC) takes home another postseason honor as a first-teamer. The teams consist of student-athletes from North Carolina NCAA Division II, Division III and NAIA institutions. Nominees were submitted by North Carolina sports information professionals. NCCSIA members voted for the all-state teams and teams were selected for men and women in both the college and university (NCAA Division I) divisions.

Founded in 2002, The North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) is comprised of sports information professionals from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA and independent institutions from the state of North Carolina. The purpose of the organization is to promote collegiate athletics at all schools. Membership is open to anyone affiliated with a college, university or conference located in North Carolina, and whose area of responsibility lies within sports information.

NCSSIA selects all-state teams in the University (Division I) and College (Division II, III, NAIA) divisions for men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, softball and baseball.

The first team is dominated by upper classmen as five seniors comprise the squad. The quintet combined to record a collective .716 winning percentage this season, while three student-athletes led their squads to NCAA postseason appearances.

Belmont Abbey’s Richard Barbee was named to the NCCSIA all-state team after averaging a team-best 20.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists for the Crusaders this season. The first four-time all-Carolinas Conference selection in school history, the Virginia Beach, Va., became just the fourth player in school history – and the first student-athlete in 22 years – to score 2,000 career points. He toted the conference’s third-best scoring average (21.4 points/game) inside league play and was lauded with first team all-conference and second-team all-region honors for the second time in his career.

Queens’s Reggie Hopkins boasted the nation’s 36th-best scoring average (19.7 points/game) in leading the Royals to a 21-8 record and a second round appearance in the NCAA Southeast Regional in Augusta, Ga. Hopkins, a Gastonia, N.C., product boasted a deadly 84.9 (202-of-238) percent accuracy from the charity stripe, while also connecting on 43.5 (146-of-336) percent of his shots from the field, including an impressive 42.2 (78-of-185) percent clip from the perimeter. In addition to his all-state laurels, he has also been decorated with first team all-Carolinas Conference and NABC second team all-district accolades, and scored 16 points as a member of the East squad in the Reese’s Division II College All-Star game on March 26.

Guilford was represented on the first team for the fifth-straight year with the selection of Josh Pittman. The Archdale, N.C., native became the first Guilford sophomore since 2006 to earn first team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference laurels after averaging 18.1 points, 3.8 assists and 2.3 assists, while connecting on 41.9 (152-of-363) percent of his shots from the field and turning in an 83.5 (91-of-109) percent success rate from the free throw line. The leading scorer in 17 of Guilford’s 26 outings this season, Pittman booked 11 separate 20-point outings and ranked near the top of the list of league leaders in minutes (32.4/game), 3-point field goals (75) and free throw percentage. The Quakers churned out a 16-10 record this season en route to a third place finish in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Brevard’s Josh Roper earns a spot on the NCCSIA all-state squad for the first time after also earning first team all-South Atlantic Conference, Daktronics second team all-region and NABC second team all-district nods in the past month. The Charlotte native averaged league bests in both points (21.2) and steals (2.4) per game and boasted double-digit scoring in 25 of the Tornado’s 27 outings this season, including 20-plus point outings on 15 occasions. Roper played and started in all 27 games and averaged nearly 33 minutes per game.

Pfeiffer’s Chris Woods joins Roper on the NCSSIA all-state squad for the second-straight year after averaging a double-double with 24.3 points (second nationally) and 10.0 rebounds per contest. The preseason all-American connected on 59.6 percent (229-of-384) of his field goal attempts and 82 percent (196-of-239) of his free throw attempts en route to 17 double-double performances and 10 games in which he scored 30 or more points. Having averaged 34.3 minutes per contest, led Conference Carolinas in both scoring and rebounding en route to league and Southeast Region player of the year laurels.

The second team consists of UNC Pembroke’s George Blakeney, Shahmel Brackett and Chris Hargrove, as well as Livingstone’s Darius Cox and Catawba’s Dominick Reid.